Mr. Neil McDonnell:

I get emails every day. I have heard from a shopkeeper from Sligo who advertised for a deli position for 20 hours per week. He said he normally gets a mix of applicants and that the position suits third level students and stay-at-home parents. He got 23 applicants. Two were from India and the rest were all leaving certificate students looking for their first jobs. No one on the PUP applied. By all means, the Deputy can say that that is anecdotal rather than evidence, but we are hearing that across the board. I remind her that the picking season is for the next three months. That will not be diverted by anything Deputies decide in Dáil Éireann. That will simply be because that is the nature of the seasons in Ireland.

We are totally free to ignore that if we want to. The committee invited me in to tell it the way it is, and I have done that-----